We stayed two days in Alta, the furthest north I've ever been. One of the initial attractions that tempted me was to stay a night in the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel. However when the price tag turned out to be over £300 per person per night we got cold feet! So we settled for an excursion to see inside but not to stay.

The Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel is beautiful located by an ice clad river flowing through robust mountains, trees decorated in white. From the outside it looks like an overgrown igloo, plain white, four carports for snow mobiles. But on the inside it is magical, eerie blue glowing through ice sculptures. Pictures by flash failed to capture this magic. The theme this year was the Arctic so we had reindeer and hunters and polar bears and Rudolph. The hotel includes a chapel and two wings of rooms, some suites with mock fireplaces and frozen couches. Those who stay get reindeer skins for warmth.

Another kind of warmth was provided by the ice bar which served a potent blend of vodka in blue Curaçao in slippery ice glasses. Strong!

We went to another concert in the Northern Lights Cathedral, a technological cathedral of futuristic shape clad in titanium. The inside is as adventurous as the outside, including a golden ladder to heaven and a bronze Christ melding ancient and ultra-modern styles. The concert was given by ÁJA, a Sami group which combines yoiking with rock background music and a Mac laptop projecting images of the Northern Lights and reindeer herding and sun and moon. I bought a CD (which Virginia thought not one of my wisest purchases) and spoke briefly to the lead singer who made me think of Ozzy Osbourne.

We had entertainment onboard like a bravura violin concert from Tom Suha, where he went between rock music and Bach. At one point he used a plastic bottle instead of a bow! Sat right at the side of the stage for one theatre company show, hard choice of whether you have a clearer side view or see the back of heads.